OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The LSU Lady Tiger golf team had its final tour of the grounds of the Caves Valley Golf Club Monday and Coach Karen Bahnsen declared her team ready for the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships that begin 72 holes of play with the first round on Tuesday.
The Lady Tigers, ranked seventh in the Golfstat performance rankings, are making their 10th appearance overall in the 30 year history of the program and for the third time in the last four years. The team was 15th in last year’s wind-blown championships in New Mexico and look for a strong performance off a third place finish in the NCAA West Regional in which the Lady Tigers shot three-under over the final 36 holes.
LSU will tee off in the afternoon wave now scheduled for 11:30 a.m. CDT with the other third-place finishers in the other two regionals ? Tennessee and Wake Forest. The tee times for Tuesday have been pushed back 30 minutes with the start delayed from 6:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. CDT because of frost expected on the course overnight with temperatures in the 30s at daybreak although temps are expected to rebound into the high 60s by the time LSU takes the course.
“It was really important to have two practice rounds over this course,” Bahnsen said. “They kind of got used to things on Sunday, but (Monday) they’ve really worked hard and realize what they can and cannot do on this course. It will be a long grind this week, but I know they will give it their best and I know they are anxious to begin.”
Also taking part in the championship is the Tulane golf team in its first year back to play after Hurricane Katrina. The Green Wave advanced through the East Regional and will play in the morning wave at 7:10 a.m. CDT with Michigan State and UC Irvine.
In all, 24 teams will take part in the championships with six individuals qualifying as well who are eligible for the individual title.
The favorites are Arizona State, which had such a dominating first round (-15) in the NCAA West Regional to set up an easy win, and UCLA. Throw in defending national champ USC and those are the teams that the experts are picking to contend for the title. Azahard Munoz of No. 1 ASU is the defending national individual champion and second-ranked UCLA will contend with five players all ranked in the top 50.
But the experience of having played in the national championship for three of the LSU golfers will go a long way as the Lady Tigers look to crack the top 10 in the event for the first time since 2000. Senior Caroline Martens is playing in her third NCAA championship and she becomes just the fifth LSU golfer to participate in at least three championships in her four-year career.
“I now know what to expect when heading to NCAA and know how to better prepare for it knowing how long and exhausting a four day tournament with two practice rounds can be,” Martens said. “But the exciting and fun feelings of butterflies in the stomach are still there. NCAA is a big deal and it is just as fun knowing that you are going today than it was the first and second time.”
The wind was blowing hard during most of the Tuesday practice round which led Bahnsen to call it “a lot of golf course. It’s a big course, especially if the wind blows. But we had a good second practice round. There are going to be some holes where you just can’t get frustrated. You’ve got to focus on the target and have confidence in your target.”
LSU first-team All-SEC selection Megan McChrystal will continue her attempt to record the lowest single season average in women’s golf history as she enters the final four rounds of the season at 72.2 strokes per round. McChrystal was seven under par for her last 47 holes of the West Regional, finishing at four-under 212, tying for sixth. Tenth in the Golfstat Cup, she is trying to erase the present record of 73.12 set by Meredith Duncan in 2001-02.
The rest of the LSU lineup is the one that has gotten LSU to this point with senior Martens (75.4 average) joined by sophomore Amalie Valle (74.5) and freshmen Jacqueline Hedwall (72.2) and Tess Teachman (75.0). Hedwall was ninth in the West regional at one-under215, while Valle’s even par 216 put her in a tie for 13th.
Caves Valley, which appears suddenly alongside a country road outside Owings Mills (outside of Baltimore), will play at a hefty 6,443 yards and par of 72 with the back nine expected to be the spot where trouble most lurks. The Tom Fazio-designed private course has a membership limit of 600 with members of all races and sexes as part of the non-profit group that owns the course. The course is well-maintained and rough off the fairways many times will probably cost golfers a shot as they attempt to get the ball back in play.
The course adds the NCAA Division I Women’s title event to an impressive list of past tournaments the course has hosted since opening in 1991 including the 2002 NCAA Division I men’s championship, a USGA Senior Open and the 2007 Arnold Palmer Cup.
Live scoring for the event can be found at LSUsports.net through Golfstat.com. The final two rounds on Thursday and Friday will feature live streaming video of the play at 16, 17 and 18 and a link is also available on the LSU website through NCAA.com. The start time for the video streaming of the final two rounds is still to be announced.